The world lost one of its greatest actors this week. Many of us grew up with Robin Williams as a firm presence in our lives that could make us laugh. He brought our families together every time we sat down to watch one of his films. He was the voice of Genie in Aladdin. He brought a board game to life in Jumanji. He was an inspiration in Dead Poet’s Society. Every role he portrayed, he encompassed that character so passionately, it’s hard to believe one man could be so versatile. In no way is this list comprehensive, because William’s career was so magnanimous, it cannot be broken down into which films were his best. He was a legend, with such a gift that all of his roles could be argued to be his best.
1. Mork, Mork and Mindy
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An alien comes to earth to study its inhabitants. The plot is absolutely out there, but Robin Williams embraces this character wholeheartedly in this Happy Days spinoff. He brings Mork to life in a quirky, sweet way that we will see more of during his career. This television role was one of his first big exposures to an audience and he was well received.
2. Popeye, Popeye
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Popeye is one of the first forays where viewers got to see Williams carrying different voices and traits using physical comedy to deliver them. He embodied this classic sailor so realistically, you could see it in the way that he walked and the way that he talked. Even his facial expressions were so meticulously detailed, you couldn’t second guess this casting choice. Williams was Popeye.
3. Adrian Cronauer, Good Morning, Vietnam
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A movie set in Saigon, 1965, during the Vietnam War, Williams plays a radio DJ on Armed Forces Radio Service, who is wildly popular with the troops, but not his superiors. It’s a story loosely based on the experiences of AFRS radio DJ Adrian Cronauer. What made this film a genuine Robin Williams piece was his take on the character. Almost all of his radio broadcasts were ad-libbed. Like this amazing bit, “Goooooooooood-byyyyeeeeee Vietnaaaaaam! That’s right, I’m history…I’m outta here! I got the lucky ticket home, baby. Rollin, rollin, rollin’…keep them wagons rollin’, rawhide!”
4. John Keating, Dead Poets Society
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A film set at the conservative Welton Academy in 1959, John Keating is a teacher that inspires his otherwise uninterested students with the use of poetry. Unlike earlier roles, such as Mork or Popeye, Williams didn’t use physical comedy to take up the screen. His passion, which viewers could see in every role he took on, was what carried this film. His delivery truly made us want to seize the day, because he was so believable in that philosophy. He made us want to stand up on our desks and chant, “O’ captain, my captain!:"
5. Dr. Malcolm Sayer, Awakenings
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While Awakenings certainly was not Williams’s first serious role, this film sticks out more because of his chemistry with those around him. William’s plays Dr. Malcolm Sayer, based on real-life British neurologist Oliver Sacks. In 1969, Sayer discovers beneficial effects of the new drug, L-Dopa, which he administers to his catatonic patients. It’s incredible to watch Williams take on this character, who is so invested in his patient’s health and quality of life, that it’s heartwarming to watch.
6. Peter Pan/Peter Banning, Hook
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Only an actor as talented and candid as Williams could manage to handle playing a grown-up Peter Pan. We’re introduced to Peter, a lawyer who is drifting from his wife and children because of his dedication to his work. It’s a wonderful display of character development to watch Peter, who has forgotten his childhood, something he never wanted to let go of, reclaim his youth and learn about life’s biggest adventures.
7. Leslie Zevo, Toys
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Toys wasn’t big at the box office, despite producing a world-class cast. Williams plays the son of a toy manufacture that falls ill and leaves the company to his uncle, a military man with no interest in building toys. Williams’s character Leslie is appalled when his uncle begins manufacturing war toys. As a child watching this movie, it was so engaging to watch Williams, who might not have seemed responsible enough to handle the company, take action to save it. He’s passionate, silly, and the unsung hero we wanted to succeed.
8. Genie, Aladdin
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In Aladdin, William’s is the genie that the title character stumbles upon. Williams was able to take this 2-dimensial character and make him larger than life. He stole every scene he was in, making him the most memorable character from the film (sorry Aladdin and Jasmine). He was completely right, we’ve never had a friend like him.
9. Daniel Hillard/Mrs. Doubtfire, Mrs. Doubtfire
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After a bitter divorce, Daniel Hillard, a talented, but jobless voice actor, is determined to still spend time with his kids. When he finds out his ex-wife is going to hire a housekeeper to help with the children, he uses his skills to pretend to be a Scottish nanny. You only need to see this movie once to remember what Williams sounded like as Mrs. Doubtfire, “Hellooo!”What could have been a ridiculous excuse at dressing up in drag, is actually a very humorous movie that touches on what the life of both parents, and children, are like in a divorce.
10. Alan Parrish, Jumanji
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Of all of William’s work, Jumanji has remained my personal favorite. The story of a boy, sucked into a board game, sounded like a plot only children could enjoy. But, as an adult, it’s more rewarding to watch Williams return to his world, years after being stuck in the jungle of the game, and have him grappling with issues we all do. Unlike some of his other work, Alan Parrish is not boisterous character that William’s could use his wild antics to portray. It’s almost like watching Robin Williams’s growing up, seeing him act like a child in an adult’s body while slowly maturing and realizing what he is responsible for.
11. Armand Goldman, The Birdcage
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The American take on La Cage aux Folles, features Williams playing a gay man, pretending to be straight for the sake of his son’s engagement. Nathan Lane gets the flashier of the two roles in this movie, but it’s impossible to not acknowledge Williams’s straight-laced performance in this piece.
12. Jack Powell, Jack
Buena Vista Pictures
Jack is a boy who ages 4x faster than the average kid, so at 10 he looks like is physically 40. A mix between comedy and melodrama, this idea sounds as bad out loud as it does on paper. But Williams manages to endear us in a way only he seems capable of, showing us the trouble Jack faces with a sweet earnestly that made viewers love this film, even if critics did not.
13. Professor Philip Brainard, Flubber
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Flubber is a movie meant for children, but easily enjoyed by parents as well because of Williams. He plays the absent-minded Professor Philip Brainard, who discovers flubber. Critically, it was not his best film, by a long shot, but William’s personality matches the super-bouncy substance of Flubber, without letting the CGI-created element take over the film.
14. Sean Maguire, Good Will Hunting
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Williams showed us he had the ability to combine tough love with a no nonsense kind of attitude. As psychologist Sean Maguire, he was able to help lead a brilliant man the right direction in his life. Williams ability to provide raw emotions is what landed him his first, and only, Oscar win (though he’s deserved the accolade countless times over his career).
15. Patch Adams, Patch Adams
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After committing himself to a mental institution, Patch Adams finds a purpose in life and applies to medical school. The film follows as Williams fights to make connections with his patients, using laughter as a form of healing. As viewers, we got to see William’s dedication to the belief that laughter is one of the best forms of medicine.
16. Andrew Martin, Bicentennial Man
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A sci-fi film where Williams portrays a robot, this movie held a lot of promise. It gets muddled down with semantics and plots too focused on scientific aspects of extended life, but Williams’s heart as a robot searching for humanity is what kept this movie afloat.
17. Seymour Parrish, One Hour Photo
20th Century Fox Film via Everett Collection
For those of us who were so used to Williams’ legendary comedic roles, it was jarring to watch a film like One Hour Photo. Seymour Parrish was not your usual over-the-top Williams performance. It’s chilling to watch an almost unrecognizable Williams, bleached blonde and tight-lipped, transform into this obsessive human being, fixated on the perfect family and life. This film is a testament to Williams acting range.
18. Bob Munro, RV
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As Bob Munro, younger viewers got a sense for what it would be like if Robin William’s was really your dad. We all might have loved Mrs. Doubtfire, but realistically, your dad isn’t going to dress up and be your new nanny. This portrayal, so simple and silly, is what highlights that Robin Williams was quite obviously a dad, and like other fathers, has traits that everyone can attach themselves to and love him for.
19. Ramon/Lovelace, Happy Feet &amp; Happy Feet 2
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It’s a movie about talking – and dancing and singing – penguins, why wouldn’t Robin Williams be in it? Let alone, why wouldn’t he voice 2 important characters? As Lovelace, Williams practically jumps off the screen at viewers, as a hilariously fat, wise older penguin with a penchantspouting wisdoms that actually make no sense. It’s entirely believable, not surprisingly, that if Robin Williams had been a penguin, that would be him. On the other hand, Ramon highlights Williams's ability to nail an accent, and become a smooth talking penguin.
20. Maxwell “Wizard” Wallace, August Rush
Warner Bros. Pictures via Everett Collection
It’s strange seeing Williams as one of the bad guys, but he pulls off the part so well. As the “Wizard,” he takes in vagrant, homeless children with a gift for music and pawns them off as street performers. When one of his children finds a musical prodigy, he immediately begins to work with him and sees him as an opportunity for money, trying to promote him to different clubs. It’s a bit refreshing to get a sense of Williams’s funny attitude, but not have him be the hero in this. You know an actor is talented when you love them, but you’re rooting against them the entire time.
21. Teddy Roosevelt, Night at the Museum, Night At The Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (To be released later this year)
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One of his most successful films financially, this is also one of his more silly ones. It holds the classic Williams’s trait is to make it silly enough to make you laugh, but not so silly that it becomes nonsensical. Williams plays a statue of Teddy Roosevelt, yes the 26th President of the United States of America, that comes to life at night to protect the museum he is in. Williams’s demeanor captures us as an audience, making us love him and the famous president, as well his back and forth banter with co-star Ben Stiller.
There are so many more films and television appearances that were all remarkable. He was an actor that was completely unparalleled in his style, talent, and passion. He cannot be replaced, and no one would ever dare try that, but he can be remembered by all the wonderful things that he has said and done. He will truly be missed, by those of us who fell in love with him as Alan Parrish in Jumanji, or those of us who were around to first witness him as Mork on Mork and Mindy. May we never forget his immense talent and all the adventures he took us on.
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Memento Films
The films have all premiered, the awards have been handed out, and the yachts are headed back home: the Cannes Film Festival has officially come to an end, which means even those of us lucky enough to spend two weeks on the French Riviera must now head for less-idyllic shores. But just because the festival has wrapped up, that doesn't mean there aren't a few films left to catch up on, and so we've rounded up the last of Cannes' biggest and buzziest films, including the winner of the Palme d'Or, a gang movie told entirely in Ukranian sign language and Kristen Stewart's best-reviewed film role yet.
Winter Sleep This year's Palme d'Or winner was also the longest film in competition, with a runtime of just over three hours. However, its epic length didn't deter judges from heaping praise on the film, which follows retired actor and hotel owner Mr. Aydin (Haluk Biginer) as he deals with the dissolution of his marriage to Nihal (Melisa Sozen). As the slow winter season arrives, the relationship between Aydin and Nihal becomes more and more fractured as she attempts to get him to face up to the issues that have made so many people turn against him. Winter Sleep is director Nuri Bilge Ceylan's fourth win at Cannes — he has won the second place award twice, in 2002 and 2011, and took home a directing award in 2008.
"Given that the title virtually encourages viewers to nap during the proceedings, Winter Sleep is no chore to sit through. Most of its characters are complex and compelling, and the actors’ faces, craggy or lustrous, reward fascinated study. The movie indulges one frustrating narrative trope in too many Cannes contenders: the unexplained disappearance of a major figure more than halfway through the story [...]. But as austere soap opera or probing character study, Winter Sleep validates the viewer’s attention, if not its nearly 200-min. running time — make that ambling time." - Richard Corliss, TIME
"That said, the performances are strong (bar a scene between Aydin and Nihal in which Bilginer suddenly plays Aydin as so one-note patronizing and condescending toward his young wife that we just wanted to punch him) and Ceylan’s and DP Gokhan Tiryaki's way with composition and cinematography is in evidence even in the interior scenes (which are most of them), lighting faces warmly and designing shots richly, which needs to happen when almost everything takes place in shot-reverse-shot, he-says-then-she-says format. But the unpleasantness of being constantly trapped in the middle of conversations of increasing resentment and bitterness starts to take its toll less than halfway through this marathon-length film as we start to realize that just as the characters all seem defined by the overweening desire to have the last word in every discussion [...], it’s a foible of Ceylan’s too." - Jessica Kiang, The Playlist
Mommy Helmed by 25-year-old Xavier Dolan, Mommy is set in the distant future, where parents are forced to either care for their unstable children or send them to detention centers. Diane (Anne Dorval), is a single mother who is struggling to raise her violent son, Steve (Antoine Olivier Pilon) on her own. Diane eventually begins to receive help from their mysterious new neighbor, Kyla (Suzanne Clement), and together, the three of them form their own dysfunctional family. Dolan was awarded the jury prize at the festival, an award that he (the youngest director in competition) shared with Jean-Luc Godard (the oldest), for his film Goodbye to Language 3D.
"Dorval gives a force-of-nature performance as Diane “Die” Despres, a glamorously trashy middle-aged widow whose teenage son Steve suffers from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, bouncing off the walls as he struggles to contain his explosively violent temper. Pilon is great casting for Steve, charismatic and manipulative, volatile but vulnerable. [...] Diane and Steve are both flawed characters, neither victims nor villains. Their conversations are combative and prickly, full of salty slang and occasional physical contact, with teasing hints of incestuous intimacy that the script never fully explores. Unlike Dolan's typical protagonists, these are not bourgeois bohemian hipsters but damaged blue-collar outsiders, struggling yet ever hopeful, bursting with a vitality and vulgarity that give the film its raw humor." - Stephen Dalton, The Hollywood Reporter
"It's a needlessly complicated introduction that makes the film to come sound somewhat like science fiction; Die and Steve's household, however, is believably exceptional enough to render the mitigating circumstances unnecessary. Their sparring is engrossingly abrasive, but the film risks wearing itself (not to mention its audience) out within a mere quarter-hour. Dorval and Pilon, both remarkable, are cranked up to 11 from the get-go, while Dolan's chosen aspect ratio forces cinematographer Andre Turpin into a claustrophobically repetitive routine of alternating, invasive close-ups. It's bravura filmmaking, all right, but the center cannot hold." - Guy Lodge, HitFix
IFC Films
The Clouds of Sils MariaOliver Assayas' bilingual Hollywood drama stars Juliette Binoche as Maria Enders, an actress entering the twilight of her career, who has signed on to star in a revival of the play that made her famous about an ambitious young girl who drives an older woman to suicide. As she spends more and more time with the Hollywood starlet (Chloe Grace Moretz) taking over her old role, Maria's life begins to crumble, and she comes to rely on her loyal assistant and only friend Valentine (Kristen Stewart). The role forces Maria to confront the person she is and used to be and reconcile with her past and the impending pressures of time.
"Maria and Val love each other and live together, but their friendship has never been on an equal footing. Passing a cigarette back and forth, they proceed to rehearse the old play to the point where it highlights and defines the running tensions between them. Val, we come to realise, is the real Sigrid in this movie. Assayas is a supple, playful and confident director whose eclectic body of work has embraced mercurial satire (Irma Vep), period drama (Sentimental Destinies) and terrorist thrills (Carlos). [...] It's a study of the artistic elite from a fully paid-up member, a story that proves a little too tolerant of the preening peacocks at the summit and too glibly dismissive of the bottom-feeders (hacks, paps and internet trolls) down below." - Xan Brooks, The Guardian
"Assayas’ screenplay deftly celebrates the act of creation and neatly demonstrates that works of art, like people, can be viewed from different angles, their true meaning unknowable. The French filmmaker also neatly dovetails the relationship of Sigrid and Helena with that of Maria and Valentine: the pair are close, at times bordering on getting too close, and their power dynamic squirms and coils as the film develops - a Maloja Snake of its own." - Matt Risley, Total Film
Leviathan A modern re-telling of the Book of Job, Leviathan tackles the corruption of Vladimir Putin's government, and deals with "some of the most important social issues of contemporary Russia." The film centers on a family who is currently locked in a bitter dispute with its corrupt mayor over the waterfront property on which its house is built. But when the patriarch of the family calls in an old friend — who is now a big-shot lawyer — to help him, he may end up making things even more difficult for himself. Written and directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev, Leviathan received rave reviews and took home the festival's prize for Best Screenplay.
"In “Leviathan,” which director Andrey Zvyagintsev has described as a loose retelling of the Book of Job, an ordinary man must wrestle with his faith not in God but in the Russian state — an epic struggle against a monster with many faces possessed of the capacity to bend the law to suit its own appetites. Resistance is futile, as they say, and yet this stunning satire’s embattled patriarch valiantly perseveres for the sake of his family, even as it crumbles around him. Debuting in competition at Cannes, this engrossing, arthouse-bound opus spans a meaty 142 minutes and unfolds with the heft of a 1,000-page novel." - Peter Debruge, Variety
"The film is really about contemporary Russia, the corruption of the current regime, exemplified by Vadim, who has a portrait of Putin on his wall [...] and of the increasingly insidious influence of the Russian Orthodox Church on the nation's leaders. Given Putin's feelings on dissent, and the partial-funding of the movie by a state body, it's a brave move, and an incredibly vital one, giving the movie a savage, fiery quality to it that continues to sear long after it's finished. And yet, it's not just political point-scoring either. There's a rich lyricism and poetry to the picture that promises more and more to unpack with every viewing." - Oliver Lyttelton, IndieWire
The Tribe Featuring a cast of deaf-mute actors, The Tribe is a teen-gang film told entirely in Ukranian sign language. The film doesn't feature any subtitles or translations, relying entirely on sign language and imagery in order to tell the story of a group of teenagers at a boarding school for the deaf who are average students by day and gangsters and prostitutes by night. Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy's ambitious project took home the top Critic's Prize awarded at the festival, as well as the France 4 Visionary Award.
"There have been countless films over the years about teenage gangs, their rites, rituals and violent codes of ethics, but Ukrainian-made and set The Tribe must surely be the first one featuring a cast entirely composed of deaf sign-language users. [...] However, the use of sign language, deafness and silence itself adds several heady new ingredients to the base material, alchemically creating something rich, strange and very original. Add in Valentyn Vasyanovych's silky smooth steadicam cinematography, sexually explicit imagery, strong critical support, and winning the top prize and two more besides in Cannes' Critics' Week sidebar (including one to assist distribution in France), and you've got a reasonably exportable item for the specialist market that doesn't even need subtitles." - Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter
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Le Pacte via Everett Collection
It's the beginning of the summer, which means it's time for Hollywood's biggest and brightest stars to make their way to the French Riviera for the Cannes Film Festival, while the rest of us look on with jealousy. But just because you didn't snag a ticket to the most glamorous film event of the year, that doesn't mean you can't keep up with all of the big films premiering over the next two weeks. To help you stay on top of things, we're running down the films that premiered in competition every day, along with what the critics are saying about them. It's all the fun of being at Cannes, without the hassle of having to fly there.
Mr. Turner Mike Leigh's latest collaboration with Timothy Spall, Mr. Turner takes place during the last 25 years in the life and career of the famous British painter JMW Turner. The eccentric Turner was equally as famous for his lack of manners as he was for his talent, and he was both loved and hated by the general public and the aristocracy. In addition to the ups and downs of his career, Leigh's film also touches on the devastation that the death of Turner's father caused, his tumultuous relationship with his housekeeper (Dorothy Atkinson) and his unique and sometimes dangerous methods of painting.
"For a director who's specialized in finding poetry in the everyday, it's fitting that while the backdrops are Turner-esque, the people who fill them are more Hogarthian. No one looks like a movie star in a Mike Leigh film, and he's assembled a dream team of previous collaborators here... But it's Spall's film, and he's remarkable in it, all snorts and snarls and grunts, hands often tensed into a kind of claw ... There's as much animal in him as man, which only makes the beauty that comes from him the more impressive." - Oliver Lyttelton, The Playlist
"Returning to the large-canvas period filmmaking of his 1999 Gilbert &amp; Sullivan bio 'Topsy-Turvy,' Leigh has made another highly personal study of art, commerce and the glacial progress of establishment tastes, built around a lead performance from longtime Leigh collaborator Timothy Spall that’s as majestic as one of Turner’s own swirling sunsets." - Scott Foundas, Variety
"The director obviously empathizes with his protagonist cussedness, and his monomaniacal devotion to his art, but what’s more resonant here is Leigh’s ability to draw out Turner’s soft, capacious underbelly, visible in his easy rapport with Sophia, or the way he listens keenly to Mr. Booth’s remembrances of working on slave ships, intelligence that would feed into one his greatest paintings, 'Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On.'" - Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter
Timbuktu Centered on the unrest caused by Islamist extremists in Mali, Timbuktu tells several different stories about people who are brought together by the crimes and choas that is ravaging their country. Director Abderrahmane Sissako, who grew up in Mali, hired a cast of experience actors - like Abel Jafri and Hichem Yacoubi - and newcomers to illustrate the way that culture and conflict has torn the country apart.
"Abderrahmane Sissako's passionate and visually beautiful film Timbuktuis a cry from the heart...In many ways, Sissako's portrait of Mali is...built up with enormous emotion, teetering between hope and despair." - Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
"Timbuktu is an impressively well-made film, eschewing what might be the obvious choice of presenting the events in a docu-realist style, in favor of constructing a loose mosaic of stories...For all its value in bearing witness to the kind of atrocious acts that get but little attention on the world stage, this is not mere testimony, this is cleverly crafted and remarkably affecting storytelling." - Jessica Kiang, The Playlist
"While previous films have showcased [Sissako's] skill at bringing magnetic dignity to his characters, “Timbuktu” confirms his status as one of the true humanists of recent cinema... Performances are mesmeric, even the smaller roles, and Sissako’s unfailing sense of color, contrasting with the pale desert landscape, holds the eye without distracting from the story." - Jay Weissberg, Variety
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Former Lostprophets rocker Lee Gaze has thanked fans for their support throughout frontman Ian Watkins' child sex drama, revealing he's relieved the case is almost over. Last Train Home singer Watkins had previously denied all charges, including two accusations of attempting to rape a baby under the age of 12 months, but he changed his plea to guilty as his trial kicked off at Cardiff Crown Court in Wales on Tuesday (26Nov13), and the singer will now be sentenced on 18 December (13).
Two female co-defendants, aged 21 and 24, who cannot be named for legal reasons, also altered their pleas and admitted to a number of offences.
Further details of Watkins' crimes emerged in court on Tuesday, with prosecutors revealing that the singer had filmed his sordid encounters, with one 17-minute video showing him performing a sex act on an 11-month-old baby - the child of one of his fellow defendants. Investigators also discovered that he had set the password for his laptop to 'if**kkids'.
Shortly after the hearing, guitarist Gaze took to his Twitter.com blog to express his relief that the ordeal was nearing an end, writing, "That was over quick. Thank f**k (sic)".
He then addressed the group's fans, adding: "Thanks for the kind words. At least there is closure now."
Gaze and the remaining members of Lostprophets, Mike Lewis, Stuart Richardson, Jamie Oliver and Luke Johnson, announced last month (Oct13) that they were splitting after 15 years together in light of Watkins' personal scandal.

Britain dominated the 2013 International Emmy Awards in the U.S. on Monday night (25Nov13), picking up three awards, including Best Actor for Sean Bean. The former Game of Thrones star nabbed the top acting prize for his role as a cross-dresser in U.K. TV show Accused, and was overwhelmed upon receiving the honour at the Big Apple's Hilton Hotel.
He gushed, "I've never actually won anything. Thank you. I really am so happy."
Irish actor Chris O'Dowd also scored his first Emmy as he took home the prize for his series Moone Boy, which won in the Comedy category.
Rounding out the country's wins was documentary Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender, which focuses on the late Queen frontman's solo projects outside of the legendary band. It tied for the arts programming award with South Korea's Hello?! Orchestra.
Director J.J. Abrams was also feted with the International Emmy Founders Award, a prize given to an individual who has crossed cultural boundaries to inspire audiences around the world.
Upon receiving the honour from Star Trek actor Zachary Quinto, Abrams confessed, "I feel unworthy... I feel genuinely grateful. It's a privilege to work in the television medium."
Brazil and France each won two Emmys, including the best actress award for Brazil's Fernanda Montenegro. In addition, Australia, South Korea and Germany each received one award.
British comic John Oliver hosted the event, which recognises excellence in international television programming outside of the U.S.

Lions Gate via Everett Collection
When we last left our heroes, they had conquered all opponents in the 74th Annual Hunger Games, returned home to their newly refurbished living quarters in District 12, and fallen haplessly to the cannibalism of PTSD. And now we're back! Hitching our wagons once again to laconic Katniss Everdeen and her sweet-natured, just-for-the-camera boyfriend Peeta Mellark as they gear up for a second go at the Capitol's killing fields.
But hold your horses — there's a good hour and a half before we step back into the arena. However, the time spent with Katniss and Peeta before the announcement that they'll be competing again for the ceremonial Quarter Quell does not drag. In fact, it's got some of the film franchise's most interesting commentary about celebrity, reality television, and the media so far, well outweighing the merit of The Hunger Games' satire on the subject matter by having Katniss struggle with her responsibilities as Panem's idol. Does she abide by the command of status quo, delighting in the public's applause for her and keeping them complacently saturated with her smiles and curtsies? Or does Katniss hold three fingers high in opposition to the machine into which she has been thrown? It's a quarrel that the real Jennifer Lawrence would handle with a castigation of the media and a joke about sandwiches, or something... but her stakes are, admittedly, much lower. Harvey Weinstein isn't threatening to kill her secret boyfriend.
Through this chapter, Katniss also grapples with a more personal warfare: her devotion to Gale (despite her inability to commit to the idea of love) and her family, her complicated, moralistic affection for Peeta, her remorse over losing Rue, and her agonizing desire to flee the eye of the public and the Capitol. Oftentimes, Katniss' depression and guilty conscience transcends the bounds of sappy. Her soap opera scenes with a soot-covered Gale really push the limits, saved if only by the undeniable grace and charisma of star Lawrence at every step along the way of this film. So it's sappy, but never too sappy.
In fact, Catching Fire is a masterpiece of pushing limits as far as they'll extend before the point of diminishing returns. Director Francis Lawrence maintains an ambiance that lends to emotional investment but never imposes too much realism as to drip into territories of grit. All of Catching Fire lives in a dreamlike state, a stark contrast to Hunger Games' guttural, grimacing quality that robbed it of the life force Suzanne Collins pumped into her first novel.
Once we get to the thunderdome, our engines are effectively revved for the "fun part." Katniss, Peeta, and their array of allies and enemies traverse a nightmare course that seems perfectly suited for a videogame spin-off. At this point, we've spent just enough time with the secondary characters to grow a bit fond of them — deliberately obnoxious Finnick, jarringly provocative Johanna, offbeat geeks Beedee and Wiress — but not quite enough to dissolve the mystery surrounding any of them or their true intentions (which become more and more enigmatic as the film progresses). We only need adhere to Katniss and Peeta once tossed in the pit of doom that is the 75th Hunger Games arena, but finding real characters in the other tributes makes for a far more fun round of extreme manhunt.
But Catching Fire doesn't vie for anything particularly grand. It entertains and engages, having fun with and anchoring weight to its characters and circumstances, but stays within the expected confines of what a Hunger Games movie can be. It's a good one, but without shooting for succinctly interesting or surprising work with Katniss and her relationships or taking a stab at anything but the obvious in terms of sending up the militant tyrannical autocracy, it never even closes in on the possibility of being a great one.
3.5/5
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Actor Steve Buscemi will pay tribute to his The Sopranos co-star James Gandolfini at the 2013 Gotham Independent Film Awards next month (Dec13). The late actor will be honoured for his career achievements on 2 December (13) at Cipriani Wall Street in New York.
Buscemi says, "James Gandolfini was a friend, an inspiration, and an extraordinary talent whose presence is missed by all of us who knew and loved him. It is an honour to present this tribute at the Gotham Awards recognising his impact."
Other honourees at the 23rd annual New York awards show include Forest Whitaker, director Richard Linklater and media executive Katherine Oliver.
Gandolfini passed away after suffering a heart attack while vacationing in Italy in June (13).

Paramount via Everett Collection
One of the most respected authorities on the greatest films of all time is the American Film Institute's "100 Years...100 Movies" list, first presented in 1998 and revised in 2007. For those who want to view some of the films considered the greatest ever, Netflix has you covered, providing viewers with 13 titles on the list through their streaming service. Take a look at what's available.
The General (1926)
Buster Keaton's silent comedy epic based on the true story of a train conductor during the Civil War may not appeal to most modern audiences (and it didn't to critics upon its release either) but it is now considered one of the greatest films of all time.
High Noon (1952)
The classic Western stars Gary Cooper as a retired sheriff who steps up to protect a frontier town from a notorious outlaw and Grace Kelly as his Quaker wife who wants him to stay out of it.
Double Indemnity (1944)
Considered one of the greatest examples of film noir, Double Indemnity tells the story of an insurance investigator (Fred MacMurray) who gets roped into a murderous insurance scheme by a conniving woman (Barbara Stanwyck).
Shane (1953)
Another quintessential Western, it stars Alan Ladd as wandering gunslinger Shane who ends up in the middle of a deadly Wyoming land dispute.
Intolerance (1916)
The oldest film on the list, D.W. Griffith's silent epic tells four parallel stories relating to morality through history.
Duck Soup (1933)
The classic Marx Brothers' comedy tells the story of Rufus. T. Firefly's (Groucho) appointment to leadership of the fictional, bankrupt country Freedonia which is on the brink of war.
The African Queen (1951)
Humphrey Bogart won his only Oscar as a Canadian riverboat captain traveling with uptight missionary Katharine Hepburn down an African river to blow a hole in a German blockade during the onset of WWII.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Paul Newman and Robert Redford cemented their place in cinema history with their portrayal of the legendary outlaws.
Forrest Gump (1994)
You can re-watch the smash hit starring Tom Hanks as the Alabama man with an IQ of 75 for the 100th time.
Titanic (1997)
Yup, the disaster epic that might be more popular to hate than like made the list. It's not as bad as people say. I'm sure millions of women who were teenagers in the late '90s would agree.
Platoon (1986)
Oliver Stone's tale of a young soldier in the Vietnam War has gained acclaim as one of the greatest war films of all time.
Pulp Fiction (1994)
This Tarantino instant classic telling several sordid, interconnected tales revolving around a surreal L.A. criminal underworld is one of the most widely-loved films of recent decades.
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Spike Lee became an icon with his tale of racial tension erupting in Brooklyn.
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Stars including Victoria Beckham and Nicole Scherzinger turned out to help Eva Longoria raise donations for charity at The Global Gift Gala in London on Tuesday night (19Nov13). The former Desperate Housewives star chaired the glitzy bash at the British capital's ME Hotel, where stars gathered for the fourth annual gala to bring in funds for a number of good causes, including the Eva Longoria Foundation and the Caudwell Children's charity.
During the event, the actress' close friend Beckham auctioned off a private dress fitting, while Scherzinger was presented with the 2013 Global Gift Philanthropist Award for her charity work.
Beckham took to her Twitter.com page to heap praise on her friend for organising the big night, writing, "So proud of Eva Longoria! Congratulations on a successful evening for the Global Gift Gala London."
Other stars in attendance included The Saturdays singer Vanessa White and pop star Pixie Lott, whose model boyfriend Oliver Cheshire hosted the gala.

Pop stars One Direction are joining a star-studded charity telethon to raise money for the victims of the Philippines super typhoon. The boyband will join a number of stars, including Harry Potter's Alan Rickman and the cast of hit TV show Downton Abbey, for the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Telethon at the BT Tower in London on Monday (18Nov13) to encourage the British public to donate generously to help those affected by Typhoon Haiyan.
The pop stars will begin by tweeting their encouragement to the public before manning the phone lines between 4pm and 7pm (local time).
Downton Abbey's Joanne Froggatt and Allen Leech, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver and comedian Stephen Merchant are also among the big names taking calls.
One Direction star Liam Payne says, "The pictures I have seen of little children in between the ruins made my heart break. All of us in the band are shocked by how many people need help, so we're asking the public to continue to be as generous as they possibly can."
On Friday (15Nov13), the pop sensations lent a hand to Britain's Children In Need fundraiser with a performance on the TV special and donation appeals to help raise funds for kids' charities.